Nadezda

Nadezda (54 yo, economist, Ukraine) and Evdokya (54 yo, engineer, Moldova) work as a house-cleaners, send money to adult children. They would like to meat very “ Russian-mettle ” man.

Elena

Elena, 50 years old in past goods manager from Minsk, Belarus, deals with real estate. Corresponds with sailor captain from Australia and dreams of a common business.

Galina

Galina, 57 years old, director of the restaurant, Ukraine. Work at paper factory. The main requirement for her second half - is not being greedy (“ I can not live without yogurts! ” ).

Jan

Jan, 49 years old, was born in Czech Republic. The dream of anarchist Jan is destruction of the institute of marriage and returning to the tribal relationships.

Jara

Jara, 55 years old, programmer, Czech Republic. Weird, shy, being on a pension dreams about an attractive wife from Russia or Ukraine, makes an impression of a wealthy man via web-resources.

Ljudmila

Ljudmila, 52 years old, from Ukraine, teacher and interpreter of English and Italian. Winner of several international ballroom dances championships. She receive 80 e-mail per day, at first she “ was tired from handwriting ” . Now she has “ three answer templates: refusal, I would like to know you better, lets meet and get acquainted ” .

Valerij

Valerij, 57 years old, in past research worker, non-legal emigrant from Ukraine. His case is being considered by Hapsburg’s court (Valerij claims that he feel moral discomfort in Ukraine and therefore can not live there). In Prague he work at construction site, share a flat with Azerbaijanis and writes political papers in Internet. About woman in Internet: “ I have note seen any who would reach my intellectual level ” .

Viktor

Victor, 50 years old, sailor, Ukraine. Hopes to start a family with a young woman who will give birth to his child. Works at shoos-warehouse.

Light boxes

“Na Solyanke” gallery, Moscow (as a part of The Eighth International Photography Month in Moscow: Photobiennale-2010)

Light Boxes

“Na Solyanke” gallery, Moscow (as a part of The Eighth International Photography Month in Moscow: Photobiennale-2010)

Virtual Acquaintance (2009)

Recently psychologists noticed increase of the interest to the Internet acquaintance among elderly people. It is connected with gradual “familiarization” of the web by people of this age. Not long time ago for those people it was a problem to register at acquaintance web resource, gain an e-mail box and just surf the Web.

Internet-acquaintance for aged people does not always means searching of a «second half», quite often it is a wish to find someone with similar interests: weekend walking in a park, visiting galleries, learning foreign language and so on). Deficiency of relations is very pronounced for people who get into unusual live style: oldage pension, lost of husband/wife, change of place of leaving (change of country).

According to unwritten rules of the good form, in Europe it is indecently to become acquainted in cafe, cinema or in a street. Those attempts contrary to social moral norms. Majority of existent couples find each other at work or same residence. For others lonely people there is only one mean of communication left – Internet. That is why almost every European leave his form on the acquaintance web-resource just for any case…

People presented in this project are looking for their second half in the Internet. Due to different reasons they leave in Prague (Czech Republic). Visual image of imaginative ideal partner of every participant of the project was depicted by authors (according to their wishes). Painting on the 6×7 cm original film was used for that (“photopainting”).
Method of painting on film is in principle consonant to postprocessed digital image, being at the same time more real (and even mysterious) montage of desired object image. Montage questions noem of photography (R. Barthes), forcing being to think – was real at all? Manipulation with film akin to rituals of old producing magic, – maybe, having painted something, we help it to become true.

Roughly painted, semiabstract spot-like-faces of “promised” become a visual cliche of desired partner qualities – beautiful, kind, not greedy, clever. But how one can for certain paint “clever, not greedy”? After all, appearance of the partner, according to majority of participants, is not important. Yet this painting akin to primeval rock paintings – human psychology has not changed (paint a deer before a hunt).

Colours in a complex nature of the photograph become semantic elements of environment. Colourness reach the very living tissue of the photograph, compensating shortage of human existence brilliance, braking closeness of dull intimate space, visualizing the desired. Candour of colour is commensurable with candour of participants – in that case we do not deal with colour anymore, but with emotions, wishes and hopes, which were restrained for a long time. After all when feelings are being restrained for a long time, at some point their sudden increase is observed. Subjective viewer’s perception is important then: for some bright concentrated colour is vulgar, for others – their openness, purity, candour is important. Not everyone will bring himself to tell his/her dream – everyone knows: spoken dream will not come true…